Order needs chaos.
Stillness needs madness.
Story needs contrast.
Biography
Natalia Shaufert is a Moldovan-American playwright, screenwriter, and film director. She is a graduate alumnus of the Dramatic Writing Department at NYU 2025. She writes slightly distorted real-life stories that emphasize, hyperbolize and satirize societal dilemmas and tragic, man-made fates. Natalia holds a film degree and an MFA in Directing animation from Academy of Arts in Moldova. She has been internationally awarded for her short films ANA, MOTHER NATURE and YOU AND ME and for her feature film RESENTMENT. She cultivated her love for playwriting at NYU and wrote “TENDER BREASTS” and “TILL DEATH DO US PART”.
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EDUCATION
2025 MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN DRAMATIC WRITING
New York University, NYC, USA
2014 MASTER OF FINE ARTS IN ANIMATION
Academy of Music, Theater and Fine Arts, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
2012 BACHELOR DEGREE IN FILM AND TELEVISION EDITING
Academy of Music, Theater and Fine Arts, Chisinau, Republic of Moldova
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HONORARY POSITIONS AND WORKSHOPS
2022 THE MOLDOVAN NATIONAL CENTER OF CINEMA (CNC)
Position: Member of the script evaluation committee
2015 A BERLINALE TALENTS ALUMNUS, Berlin, Germany.
2014 EUROPEAN FILM ACADEMY. A SUNDAY IN A COUNTRY, Luxembourg.
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FILMS & AWARDS
2024 SHADOW OF WAR Documentary 95 min.
Position: Writer and Producer. Country of production: Moldova.
Screening: World Premiere at Thessaloniki International Documentary Film Festival, 2024
2023 YOU AND ME Drama. 15 min.
Position: Writer, Director and Producer. Country of production: USA.
Awards: “Best Short Director Award” Milan Indie Film Festival; Milan, Italy, 2024
“Best Erotic Film Award” 7th Europa Film Festival; Barcelona, Spain, 2023
2021 MOTHER NATURE Comedy. 23 min.
Position: Writer, Director and Producer. Country of production: Moldova.
Awards: “Best Narrative Film” 1st Kraków Vegan Film Festival, Poland, 2021
“Best Female Director” 23rd Independent Days IFF, Germany, 2021
2018 RESENTMENT Drama. 95 min.
Position: Writer, Director and Producer. Country of production: Moldova.
Review: “A War Film without War?” Natalia Shaufert’s Resentment (2019)
Awards: “Best Leading Actress” Moscow Premiere Film Festival, Russia, 2019
“Best Feature Film” Eurasia International Monthly FF, Russia, 2019
“Best Costume” and “Best Editing” RAVAC IFF, Moldova, 2018
“Best Fiction Feature Film” Aphrodite Film Festival, New York, USA, 2018
2012 ANA Fiction, Drama. 24 min.
Position: Writer, Director and Producer. Country of production: Moldova.
Awards: “Best Director ” Gulf International Film Festival, Dubai, UAE, 2013
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1st ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
2019 THE MOLOK Fiction. 25 min. PENN, USA.
2019 PERFECT AS CATS Experimental. 18 min. NY, USA.
2018 LOVE AND COMMUNICATION Drama. 90 min. NJ, USA.
2018 MAGIC HOUR Fiction, Romance. 105 min. NJ/NY, USA.
2017 SOFA Comedy. 25 min. Moldova.
2015 IN THE SIDECAR Experimental. 18 min. Romania, Moldova, Germany
2012 IOANA Fiction, Drama. 20 min. Moldova.
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PRESS
A Forgotten Country’s Forgotten Cinema: Searching for Hope in Post-Soviet Moldovan Cinema
A War Film without War?: Natalia Shaufert’s Resentment (2019)
Radio recording – Natalia Shaufert revine cu o nouă producție: Comedia care te va face să râzi cu poftă
Regizoarea Natalia Shaufert: „Cum omul care nu are treabă cu cinematografia să afle despre filmele autohtone? Nicicum”
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Natalia Shaufert 